Dear Reader, It's April; spring's here in Cambridge. The days are beautiful, and yet, I'm also aware of violence and injustice. I want to share a poem from my book I Say the Sky, a poem about coming to accept one's own story, while also seeing the ways in which none of us is separate. It can sound easy to say we're all interconnected, but being interconnected isn't easy. In my writing classes, one of the things students struggle with most is how to tell their own stories when their stories...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, I hope you're taking care. For those of you who celebrate Eid, Eid Mubarak. And for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, happy spring equinox. We've tipped into spring and longer days—the first blooms on the trees and the first bulbs are flowering here in New England. I was at a silent retreat last week, and this Saturday, Eric and I spent the day at the ocean, watching the waves crash in and out. In the afternoon, the clouds cleared, and the sun came out. We walked by witch...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, Happy solstice—the light is returning! In this dark year in our collective history, at this dark time in the year's cycle, it's good to remember other possibilities... I want to share this Solstice poem with you :) On the Shortest Day of the Year from I Say the Sky by Nadia ColburnEven if there is only the smallest doormade of stone,with no handle,bend low,put all your weight into it: it opens onto the wide expanseof where you’ve never been—groundless, blue, and untranslatable,...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Dear Reader, Hello again from Spain, where I'm here with the whole family now :) And happy (almost) Thanksgiving! In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want, first, to thank you for being part of this community! I truly feel grateful and lucky to be connected with you! I also want to share my favorite Thanksgiving prayer: the Haudenosaunee Confederacy’s Thanksgiving Address, a deep prayer of thanks for the earth, waters, plants, and animals. I first encountered this address in Robin Wall...
6 months ago • 7 min read
Dear Reader, Hola from Spain! I’m here visiting Simone (my daughter), who’s studying abroad in Granada. Eric and Gabriel will join us tomorrow, but I came early to see Simone and also have a little writing retreat for myself. From our weekend on the coast It’s been a nice respite in many ways, and it's been nice to step outside of the nonstop news cycle of the US. That said, I’m also watching from a distance...the release of the Epstein files (as a sexual abuse survivor, I'm particularly...
6 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, Revision is one of the most misunderstood and important parts of the writing process, and this week, in my Poetry of Attention Class, I'm teaching five different methods for revision. So I thought I'd share thoughts about revision with you here, too! The word revision can be thought of as re-vision: how do we both see and re-see? How do we meet our work with awareness and also be open to the possibility of change? How do we know what to keep and what to let go of? These are...
6 months ago • 4 min read
Dear Reader! The days are getting shorter here in the Northern Hemisphere, and the leaves are turning... This is a season of settling, of letting go, and of coming back to ourselves. Even as our public world spins out of balance, all around us is also beauty, love, pleasure and joy—if we open to it. When I first started teaching, I was surprised to find that one of the biggest challenges many students have is writing joy. Why is writing joy challenging? It’s partly that we turn to writing to...
7 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, One of the things that used to truly baffle me as a writer (and as an activist) was how to stay present. Wasn't it my job as a writer to go back to the past and explore it? Wasn't it my job as a writer and thinker to understand history and to imagine, and be a voice for, what I wanted for the future? How could I do these things and also be present? When I was sitting at my desk writing, was I really being present? I wondered if I even wanted to be present. Was the multi-billion...
10 months ago • 2 min read
Dear Reader, I hope you had a good weekend! I myself am back from a lovely week away with my family. These are unusual times, and I'm writing with two messages. First: If you live in the US and are concerned about the direction this country is going, call the Senate--the Reconciliation Bill is being debated as I write. Call your senators and say you don't want to further fund billionaire tax breaks and ICE while Medicaid and clean energy are being cut! According to Senator Warren, there are...
11 months ago • 4 min read